ECL Sligo Rovers v Motherwell 28/7/22

[mfc]

1 hour ago, Ya Bezzer! said:

I said in the very beginning despite a 7th and 5th league placing our fans had an irrational dislike of Alexander and were just waiting to get him.

I said Motherwell fans should manage their expectations as we might well lose - they didn't and we did.

I said that Scottish teams at our level have a negligible gap of superiority over League of Ireland and none with start of season fitness - I was right.

I said none of our outfield players would be stand outs in the League of Ireland - Sligo were better in every area.

I said we'd probably lose last night - again correct.

Now instead of going into some demented Daily Mail reader style rant, Motherwell fans have to face reality.

We are a small self financed club, we have probably our worst ever squad because we cannot pay wages and we've sold all the family silver and there is nothing left.  

 Alexander has comfortably kept us up with a very weak squads twice.  It would be utter folly and an incredible and dangerous risk to fire him now. 

Bringing in an unproven manager, with this squad,  could be a history altering decision for the club and not in a good way.  Falkirk anyone?  Dunfermline anyone?  

We lost a Euro tie.  Our Euro record is abysmal.  1 win 15.  Big surprise.   Alexander doesn't get any free pass.  He'll be judged on his league results.  Now stop this mewling red faced infant tantrum stuff and behave like thinking adults. 

Back in the day when I was almost a lone voice trying to protect standards at our club I was derided, dismissed even threatened in private messages.  Well you know what, that time has passed, sorry Motherwell fans but we are where we are and it's time to eat the gruel YOU ordered.

This ridiculous bi polar fan base standing ovations one match, utter rancour the next, sometimes even within matches (Livingston) is going to drag our club down into a very bad place.

Could you get anymore patronising if you tried.

[Great Balls of Shire]

9 minutes ago, David said:

This is key for me. Motherwell have been in this position before, but usually the players are still behind the manager, such as with Robinson. It just wasn't working for him. But there's something else behind this I think.

Obviously we'll never know for sure, but the team just looked completely disinterested last night. 

However, with that said, I'd be shocked if Alexander was sacked any time soon. I think he'll get until October at the very least, and if things are looking horrible then he'll be let go. 

I think people use this "lost the dressing room " line as a cover....sligo were just better , more street wise etc. Their defenders didnt make mistakes like ours, they scored goals , i dont see our guys scoring, ....look at maguires efforts on goal during 2 games and their goals and technique, mugabi defending , carrols touch, i could go on. Thats not to do with losing dressing room, heyre just not very good.

[Suprawell]

1 hour ago, Ya Bezzer! said:

I said in the very beginning despite a 7th and 5th league placing our fans had an irrational dislike of Alexander and were just waiting to get him.

I said Motherwell fans should manage their expectations as we might well lose - they didn't and we did.

I said that Scottish teams at our level have a negligible gap of superiority over League of Ireland and none with start of season fitness - I was right.

I said none of our outfield players would be stand outs in the League of Ireland - Sligo were better in every area.

I said we'd probably lose last night - again correct.

Now instead of going into some demented Daily Mail reader style rant, Motherwell fans have to face reality.

We are a small self financed club, we have probably our worst ever squad because we cannot pay wages and we've sold all the family silver and there is nothing left.  

 Alexander has comfortably kept us up with a very weak squads twice.  It would be utter folly and an incredible and dangerous risk to fire him now. 

Bringing in an unproven manager, with this squad,  could be a history altering decision for the club and not in a good way.  Falkirk anyone?  Dunfermline anyone?  

We lost a Euro tie.  Our Euro record is abysmal.  1 win 15.  Big surprise.   Alexander doesn't get any free pass.  He'll be judged on his league results.  Now stop this mewling red faced infant tantrum stuff and behave like thinking adults. 

Back in the day when I was almost a lone voice trying to protect standards at our club I was derided, dismissed even threatened in private messages.  Well you know what, that time has passed, sorry Motherwell fans but we are where we are and it's time to eat the gruel YOU ordered.

This ridiculous bi polar fan base standing ovations one match, utter rancour the next, sometimes even within matches (Livingston) is going to drag our club down into a very bad place.

Are you Burrows???

[David]

4 minutes ago, Great Balls of Shire said:

I think people use this "lost the dressing room " line as a cover....sligo were just better , more street wise etc. Their defenders didnt make mistakes like ours, they scored goals , i dont see our guys scoring, ....look at maguires efforts on goal during 2 games and their goals and technique, mugabi defending , carrols touch, i could go on. Thats not to do with losing dressing room, heyre just not very good.

Ordinarily I'd agree, but there's a few weird situations going on. The main one is with O'Donnell. 

[mfc]

5 minutes ago, David said:

Ordinarily I'd agree, but there's a few weird situations going on. The main one is with O'Donnell. 

I'm in agreement with you that something just feels off behind the scenes.after last week's game alexander was saying things like it's only half time in the tie to on wednesday saying it was do or die time.you would think using words like do or die,the team would have came out with all guns blazing but it was the complete opposite,we didn't even look interested.it looks like alexander is talking but the dressing room isn't listening.

[joewarkfanclub]

43 minutes ago, Spiderpig said:

We were never allowed a sniff at goal all night, the Sligo keeper never had to make a serious save, their defence was well organised, they moved the ball quickly and got in behind us on numerous occasions especially after 3 mins and scoring a beauty from the free kick, they sat back virtually the whole game as they had us sussed and knew we carried no threat, and took their chances when they came.

So for me that's being outclassed by an opposition  and they got what they deserved a place in Q3.

Not for me. Outclassed is when the other team have all the ball and rip you a new one are better than you in every department and there is nothing you can do about it.

Im not saying Sligo werent organised, worked hard and didnt deserve to win both games and the tie overall. Im just saying they didnt even have to be that good to achieve it.

Thats an even more damning indictment on our performance.

[mfc]

Sligo played us like a fiddle,they had clearly watched games of ours from last season.the opposition know if they get men behind the ball when it's needed and bide there time and wait for the inevitable mistake from us,we then have absolutely nothing to break them down at the other end.the truth is sligo won the tie without having to break sweat.the blueprint to beat us is well and truly out there and I wouldn't be surprised if st mirren do the exact same on sunday.

[wellfan]

Putting the dodgy headed back pass from Mugabi, the good free kick, and the breakaway goal aside, we offered absolutely nothing in reply. We didn’t lay a glove on them over two legs, but we all saw this coming based on 2022 so far. This team and management have absolutely nothing to offer and haven’t done since December 2021. Our league campaign is going to be awful if we don’t fix this mess now. 

[gaz7]

1 hour ago, joewarkfanclub said:

Not for me. Outclassed is when the other team have all the ball and rip you a new one are better than you in every department and there is nothing you can do about it.

Im not saying Sligo werent organised, worked hard and didnt deserve to win both games and the tie overall. Im just saying they didnt even have to be that good to achieve it.

Thats an even more damning indictment on our performance.

Yep Im same we were certainly not outclassed. They won due to similar performance to what we achieved 1st half of last season which was score 1st hang in and see game out or score another against run of play.

I felt we played into their hands both games with this tactic of get the ball forward early and play off 2nd balls.  We done it from kick off with a punt up to KVV then next passage of play all way back to kelly and punt up park. They were set up to deal with this and I just wished we had passed it about the back for a while to settle us into game and get their players running around.

Kvv been non existent both legs as have others but he was on full 90 both games i think? At start of 2nd half we went what looked like a 424  with shields in middle with kvv. Problem was we had morris on right and tierney on left with no crosses into box I felt then if we had morris wide left and spittal wide right which is maybe their natural positions then we would have seen deliverys into box.  

Start of season this weekend which usually calls for some excitement but not this year unfortunately and that tells its own story.  If we dont have a new manager in place soon the atmosphere at games is going to be bad and after the connect the club has been slowly increasing over the years with the fans that will be sad to see and will only lead to a downward spiral.

[grizzlyg]

12 hours ago, well_said said:

Coyle's a prick.

One for the 80's music fans, Owen Coyle is not my favourite waste of time

[MJC]

8 hours ago, stv said:

Rubbish . We have a bad manager ok. But we have just renewed the full playing surface and sub surface , upgraded the stadium, finances seem alright , sold loads of season tickets again , in the cold light of day last year was a successful season ,top six . All within the confines of a relatively small support. Where are you making that up from. We are no Barcelona after all . Wring out yer knickers .

Our scouting system is appalling.

Our ability to develop youth players isn’t good enough.

As a club we seem to be putting more focus on getting likes on social media than addressing any of the above.

Our official club Twitter carries the headline “We exist to improve people’s lives”. Utter patronising nonsense. We exist as a professional football club…that’s first and foremost what we are.

I’m not asking us to be Barcelona, but is it really too much to ask for us to be able to put a competitive team out on the park who can play at least something resembling entertaining football now and again? Because we most definitely have not had anything like that for at least three years now.

[Great Balls of Shire]

2 hours ago, David said:

Ordinarily I'd agree, but there's a few weird situations going on. The main one is with O'Donnell. 

again sod becoming a saviour by not playing, he was awful last year, so if he is the answer , we are even more goosed than i thought....but its all relative, he is a world beater compared to the left backs

[MelvinBragg]

2 minutes ago, Great Balls of Shire said:

again sod becoming a saviour by not playing, he was awful last year, so if he is the answer , we are even more goosed than i thought....but its all relative, he is a world beater compared to the left backs

I tend to agree that O'Donnell wasn't fantastic last season but there is a pattern developing where Alexander falls out with senior pros. Watt last season, O'Donnell this season. Have heard various other stories that hint at poor man management. At Motherwell, we're unlikely to get the best players in the world. So we need everyone pulling in the same direction. Requires leadership. Doesn't seem like people want to follow our current leader..

And it does have a knock on effect. Falling out with your senior right back meaning you have to go and get another right back eats into your budget if you wanted to replace the two substandard left backs...

[andalg]

20 minutes ago, MelvinBragg said:

I tend to agree that O'Donnell wasn't fantastic last season but there is a pattern developing where Alexander falls out with senior pros. Watt last season, O'Donnell this season. Have heard various other stories that hint at poor man management. At Motherwell, we're unlikely to get the best players in the world. So we need everyone pulling in the same direction. Requires leadership. Doesn't seem like people want to follow our current leader..

And it does have a knock on effect. Falling out with your senior right back meaning you have to go and get another right back eats into your budget if you wanted to replace the two substandard left backs...

If O'Donnell isnnt good enough why hasn't he been moved on Hes a Scottish international with SPL experience surely he'd be sought after by at least St Mirren

[David]

31 minutes ago, Great Balls of Shire said:

again sod becoming a saviour by not playing, he was awful last year, so if he is the answer , we are even more goosed than i thought....but its all relative, he is a world beater compared to the left backs

I don't think anyone is claiming he should be the first name of the team sheet, we're saying it's strange that he's went from being our captain and a regular starter to not featuring at all.

That would hint at something more between him and the management team, although we won't know for sure obviously. It's all speculation at this point.

[El Grew]

2 hours ago, mfc said:

Sligo played us like a fiddle,they had clearly watched games of ours from last season.the opposition know if they get men behind the ball when it's needed and bide there time and wait for the inevitable mistake from us,we then have absolutely nothing to break them down at the other end.the truth is sligo won the tie without having to break sweat.the blueprint to beat us is well and truly out there and I wouldn't be surprised if st mirren do the exact same on sunday.

Spot on.  We couldn’t break open a wet paper bag.

[El Grew]

Dateline 30th September 2021 Stephen O’Donnell made club captain.  
Quote from Graham Alexander: “Stephen stepped in as captain on several occasions last season and I saw enough then to know he was ready to lead my team. He’s a great example to everyone on the training pitch, how professional he is off it, and how much he wants to win every day. His performances have matched that and along with Liam Kelly as vice-captain and the other leaders within our squad, he will set the standard of what we require from our players every day.”

So what’s changed and is not time somebody at the club explained what is happening with regard to the club captain - assuming he still is.

[stv]

1 hour ago, MJC_mkII said:

 

Our official club Twitter carries the headline “We exist to improve people’s lives”. Utter patronising nonsense. We exist as a professional football club…that’s first and foremost what we are.

Absolutely agree with you here. I’m not on twitter but I’ve seen that and it’s embarrassing. More like an Oxfam logo.

[redalert1976]

14 hours ago, Yabba's Turd said:

Sligo have gone full time since then and obviously improved, we sadly have not, Motherwell were utter dross over 2 legs and have been since December.
All the signings since then have been underwhelming or just rank rotten.

We were full time when yeer kids beat us in the Irn Bru.

[texanwellfan]

Ok perhaps outclassed might be the wrong word but I can accept that description. Maybe a better phrase would have been “with alarming ease” 

[mfc]

5 minutes ago, redalert1976 said:

We were full time when yeer kids beat us in the Irn Bru.

Fair play to sligo over the two legs,you thoroughly deserved it.we have been playing that way for months and your management team have obviously watched previous games and knew exactly how to go about it,clearly you have competent people in charge while we have a manager that couldn't set up a game of subbuteo properly.

[redalert1976]

4 minutes ago, mfc said:

Fair play to sligo over the two legs,you thoroughly deserved it.we have been playing that way for months and your management team have obviously watched previous games and knew exactly how to go about it,clearly you have competent people in charge while we have a manager that couldn't set up a game of subbuteo properly.

Funny thing we were playing a similar predictable shite brand of football for a lot of this season, everybody in the league had us sussed.

[stv]

1 hour ago, redalert1976 said:

Funny thing we were playing a similar predictable shite brand of football for a lot of this season, everybody in the league had us sussed.

Our manager couldn’t even suss out what colour his shite is.

[bobbybingo]

12 minutes ago, stv said:

Our manager couldn’t even suss out what colour his shite is.

Last night it was mainly white, with some claret and amber.

[dennyc]

5 hours ago, David said:

Ordinarily I'd agree, but there's a few weird situations going on. The main one is with O'Donnell. 

From the outside it seems like Alexander is punishing SOD and trying to embarrass him into asking away. Making him sit on the bench, watching poor performance after poor performance.  There is no rational reason why SOD did not make an appearance in either Conference game. God knows, it's not as if we were coasting along to an easy victory. I cannot believe it is down to injury. If so why was he retained in the Scotland squad and not returned to Club as happened with a good few others? And if Alexander is convinced SOD is not good enough why does he sit him on the bench in the first place?

You get shot down on here for expressing such views but Craigen's comments last night certainly pointed fans in that direction as well.

It can be an asset having a strong Manager and we all know some players need that. But this has gone on too long and appears to have become personal. Others have suffered similar, but not to this extent. If, as was rumoured, O'Donnell told Alexander his tactics were shite, then I think we can all see now he was correct.